Babies and T.V.

Ok I don't want to get up on my soap box here but I felt it was important to blog about tv especially as parents now days are using it more and more with their babies and toddlers.

I have heard SO many people comment about how kids are never outside anymore. People saying "when I was young I was outside running around with my friends and kids these days don't do that anymore" And Its my firm belief that we are conditioning our kids from birth to sit there and watch tv.

American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies under age 2 watch no TV at all and toddlers older than 2 watch no more than an hour of Quality shows

A Quality show is Slower-paced viewing that gives your toddler time to think about what he's watching and absorb the information. Lots of action and quickly changing images will only confuse him or make his eyes glaze over.

A study done by the Kaiser Family Foundation found:
two-thirds of infants and toddlers watch a screen an average of 2 hours a day
kids under age 6 watch an average of about 2 hours of screen media a day, primarily TV and videos or DVDs
kids and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer (outside of schoolwork) and playing video games
REALLY? This is SICK people!

I can understand from time to time turning on the tv to give yourself a 10 minute break, we're all real people and need an escape sometimes but I think the tv is being abused by parents

Your child needs play time to develop physically, socially and emotionally, so take the time to give your child one and one attention, forget your laundry and cleaning the house to get on your knees and play yourself silly, your child will only be this small for so long.

Take your toddler to the park or just anywhere outside and show them the world you both deserve it!